技术交流:箍tegy

Be very clear who you're targeting for your blog. If they could ask questions of the people you're interviewing, what would they ask? What information do these experts have that would be vital for your readership to know about?

I've found that the success of an interview is largely determined by how well the interviewer has done his/her homework. Once the interviewee understands that you've taken this seriously and know what you're doing, they get more engaged and open up more fully.

Of course, as with anything else, you need to be sure your objective is clear, you know exactly who you're trying to please (i.e., your primary target audience), and are genuinely interested in doing a good job.

A few years ago, I was involved in a project that required that I interview several dozen CEOs and Marketing VPs about their own successes. Once they realized that I had all the background, they were ready to open up and tell me what I needed to know from them. The homework took longer than the interviews, but this approach gave me excellent interviews without taking a lot of my subjects' time.

It really depends on what you are out to accomplish.
One-off interviews are many times simply unpaid PR for the subject companies - they spin and you transcribe it. I also consult in PR - so I recognize that a mile away.
On the other hand, when you interview six to eight executives and look for industry trends and the 30,000-foot view, you can often assemble reports that have some very useful, and difficult to obtain, industry insights.
Also, you can use one executive's comments to get a different opinion from the others - that's how you quickly identify what is simply an individual opinion versus an industry trend (very difficult with one-off interviews.)
Doing research prior will only help you so much - a lot of things never make it into print or blogs, and there is a substantial amount of mis-information out there as well.
I do this kind of work all the time for major clients - I've interviewed maybe 200-300 executives in the construction industry alone. I always try for the six to eight interviews at a minimum (on a specific topic). After that, you start to hear the same things over again.
Here's a tip - depending on the subject matter, sometimes the executives are pretty cagey. Usually if you promise an executive summary for their participation, they'll agree to participate. Sometimes you also have to grant anonymity (as a rule, always get permission for attribution).
You can also put the executive summary on your blog - but charge for the full report. That's how you make money - not by giving it away.